1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to pouches for holding liquified or pulverized products, and more particularly, to an improved pouch and tooling for making a novel tear-off strip in such pouches.
2. Description of Related Art
As described in applicant's copending application Ser. No. 08/010,766, referred to above, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference thereto, film pouch forming, filling and sealing machines, are now being widely used to package food and related products in flexible film pouches for ready dispensing of such products from hand held and other dispensers.
As further described in this copending application, the novel head seal means thereof includes, among other things, cut-off or severing means and a multi-bladed perforator to form pouches with tear-off strips in form, fill and seal machines from rolls of film in a continuous process. However, as discussed in more detail below, the head seal means and the multi-bladed perforator disclosed therein, do not always work as required.
In known smaller pouches formed on a form, fill and seal pouch packaging machine, tear-off strips may be formed by a means which perforates or weakens a plurality of small predetermined portions of the pouches. Furthermore, as disclosed in applicants' copending application, an outlet spout or dispensing opening in such larger pouches, has no such perforations formed thereacross.
In use, it has been found that tear-off strips having a large number of small perforations or weakened portions, work well when used with smaller pouches. However, it has been discovered that in larger pouches, such as disclosed in applicants' copending application, containing a substantially large amount of food product, and having an outlet spout or other opening formed in the dispensing end thereof, tear-strips having a large number of small perforations or weakened portions do not produce consistent, reliable results. That is, even tearlines are not consistently obtained when such tear-strips are removed from larger pouches. This uneven tearline, may cause damage to the pouch, or the outlet spout of the pouch may improperly or poorly dispense the product. Furthermore, if an uneven tearline is formed across the outlet spout when the tear-strip is removed, improper sealing of this outlet spout in a dispenser may occur.
Through extensive testing, it has been determined that different persons exert or produce a different amount of force when removing tear strips, and, particularly, when removing such strips from substantially large pouches. The weight and volume of the product held in these large pouches expands the larger pouches, including the outlet spout portion, to a far greater degree than may appear in smaller pouches. This expansion, together with the large number of unperforated or unweakened sections formed between the small perforations or weakened portions along the tearline, causes different individuals to apply uneven forces thereto, when they are removing such elongated tear-strips. One of the reasons for this inconsistency in results is that the unperforated or unweakened sections must be torn through one at a time. It has been discovered that different individuals react differently when they tear through the perforated or weakened portions and meet the resistance of each of such unperforated or unweakened portions. For example, people are not consistent, and some individuals tend to pull harder or exert more force, while others tend to slow down or exert less force, each time they meet substantially no resistance, or when they meet resistance in removing tear strips. Furthermore, all individuals tend to apply different forces in pulling off tear strips, depending on the time of day and/or how they feel when removing the same. This difference in force applied, causes a jerky or uneven pull along the tearline, producing inconsistent and unreliable results.
It has now been discovered that to produce the best results and, therefore, an even tearline, when removing tear-strips, particularly across an outlet spout that may be formed through an elongated tear-strip, a consistent force should be quickly applied, with no increases and/or hesitations or let up in force applied. This fast, consistent application of force quickly removes the strip, and leaves a smooth tearline. There, therefore, exists the need for an improved large pouch having an easily and consistently torn-off tear-strip which leaves a clean or substantially even tearline, and for improved tooling to make such a tear-strip on a large pouch.